# English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, Paragraph 3: Amendment of section 2

Extent: E+W

(1) Section 2 (boundaries of the general power) is amended as follows.
(2) After subsection (2) insert—
“(2A) If exercise of a pre-commencement power of a combined authority or CCA is subject to restrictions, those restrictions apply also to exercise of the general power so far as it is overlapped by the pre-commencement power.
(2B) The general power does not enable a combined authority or CCA to do—
(a) anything which the authority is unable to do by virtue of a pre-commencement limitation, or
(b) anything which the authority is unable to do by virtue of a post-commencement limitation which is expressed to apply—
(i) to the general power,
(ii) to all of the authority's powers, or
(iii) to all of the authority's powers but with exceptions that do not include the general power.”.
(3) In subsection (4), in the words before the definitions, after “section” insert “, in relation to a local authority”.
(4) After subsection (4) insert—
“(5) In this section, in relation to a combined authority or CCA—
“post-commencement limitation” means a prohibition, restriction or other limitation expressly imposed by a statutory provision that—
(a) is contained in an Act passed after the end of the Session in which the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 is passed, or
(b) is contained in an instrument made under an Act and comes into force on or after the commencement of section 21 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026;
“pre-commencement limitation” means a prohibition, restriction or other limitation expressly imposed by a statutory provision that—
(a) is contained in this Act, or in any other Act passed no later than the end of the Session in which the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 is passed, or
(b) is contained in an instrument made under an Act and comes into force before the commencement of section 21 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026;
“pre-commencement power” means power conferred by a statutory provision that—
(a) is contained in this Act, or in any other Act passed no later than the end of the Session in which the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 is passed, or
(b) is contained in an instrument made under an Act and comes into force before the commencement of section 21 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.”

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/23/schedule/6/paragraph/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/english-devolution-and-community-empowerment-act-2026/schedule-6/paragraph-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.